i just noticed that just shooting around all summer really helps a lot. All of my friends rarely played ball all summer and all i did was shoot around in the parking lot. When i got in the gym at school i was nailing everything i even surprised myself at how much my shot improved.

At the end of the day, we all know how hard Demar works. It's nothing less of his character. The one knock on him is going to be his mindset.

I remember how well composed, and poised he was in his first two years, and this past season, I was extremely surprised to see him constantly having his head down, after a play doesn't go his way.
Now, he's not selfish, I've seen him shown some real emotion when the team is playing well, cause Demar really only cares about winning games. I just hope he can put in the hard work, with confidence and a strong mindset, and he will be a really good player.

At the end of the day, we all know how hard Demar works. It's nothing less of his character. The one knock on him is going to be his mindset.

I remember how well composed, and poised he was in his first two years, and this past season, I was extremely surprised to see him constantly having his head down, after a play doesn't go his way.
Now, he's not selfish, I've seen him shown some real emotion when the team is playing well, cause Demar really only cares about winning games. I just hope he can put in the hard work, with confidence and a strong mindset, and he will be a really good player.

Yeah, he was really pissed off at times...

I remember DeMar had tweeted something in anger and deleted it, and also there was that other time he threw a ball and got ejected. He also had a technical or two last year. Hopefully he can overcome this mindset.

Hard work doesn't necessarily translate to excellence. I'll use the analogy of school, since NoProps sort of introduced the idea. A student can work really hard but still not get the mark. Going to class, keeping up with readings, studying; those are all good. However, if the strategy you have laid out is flawed, the results will simply reflect that. A student needs to be able to translate the hard work into results by developing a thorough understanding of the subject at hand. Identifying weak areas, focusing on details and analysis are all required components that contribute to success.

I just get the feeling that Demar, as much as he works, doesn't have the awareness and understanding that will allow him to translate his hard work into in-game performance. By this point, Demar should have already identified his weak areas in terms of skill set and he should already be focusing on the mental aspects; ie: what situations highlight his strengths, reading coverages, footwork, angles. However, the sad reality is, Demar, entering his 4th year in the league, can still be labeled as a 'prospect'.

I can't defend the guy by stating "last year's lockout affected his game because he had no supervision, no training camp." While there is much substance to that thought, someone as promising of a talent as Demar should not have been affected. Successful people have the ability to know what to do even in the darkest of situations.

Therefore, I have significantly lowered my expectations of him. No longer do I think he is a star in the making by any stretch of imagination. Rather, a solid starting wing, would be a better expectation.

“I don’t create controversies. They’re there long before I open my mouth. I just bring them to your attention.”

i just noticed that just shooting around all summer really helps a lot. All of my friends rarely played ball all summer and all i did was shoot around in the parking lot. When i got in the gym at school i was nailing everything i even surprised myself at how much my shot improved.

I had a knee replacement in the fall a couple of years ago. So I missed the basketball season in my old timers league. I rehabbed over the winter and then, in June, started going to the YMCA for light workouts and a little time on the gym floor shooting and moving laterally etc. I hit the gym a couple to three times a week all summer. By July I was moving at almost full speed and by August I was. When the season started in October, I was tearing it up for a while, till I got back into my bad habits. I realized that, though I'd been playing men's league and puffer league ball for 25 years, that had been the first time since leaving high school that I actually spent any time practising. Oddly enough, practice helps.

Hard work doesn't necessarily translate to excellence. I'll use the analogy of school, since NoProps sort of introduced the idea. A student can work really hard but still not get the mark. Going to class, keeping up with readings, studying; those are all good. However, if the strategy you have laid out is flawed, the results will simply reflect that. A student needs to be able to translate the hard work into results by developing a thorough understanding of the subject at hand. Identifying weak areas, focusing on details and analysis are all required components that contribute to success.

I just get the feeling that Demar, as much as he works, doesn't have the awareness and understanding that will allow him to translate his hard work into in-game performance. By this point, Demar should have already identified his weak areas in terms of skill set and he should already be focusing on the mental aspects; ie: what situations highlight his strengths, reading coverages, footwork, angles. However, the sad reality is, Demar, entering his 4th year in the league, can still be labeled as a 'prospect'.

I can't defend the guy by stating "last year's lockout affected his game because he had no supervision, no training camp." While there is much substance to that thought, someone as promising of a talent as Demar should not have been affected. Successful people have the ability to know what to do even in the darkest of situations.

Therefore, I have significantly lowered my expectations of him. No longer do I think he is a star in the making by any stretch of imagination. Rather, a solid starting wing, would be a better expectation.

I don't disagree to your perspective.

I just feel at the end of the day, hard work pays off. That's always what I've kept in mind, it's happened to players in the league no doubt about it, I just feel if your mind is not with your game, it's never going to work out the way you want it too.

Confidence, concentration, composure, poise. Even when Demar had great games, he was disappointed with different plays. I remember when we played New Jersey, Demar had 30. From my TV, I can hear Demar going "Fuck outta here." to Johan Petro after almost dunking on him. When he missed an opportunity for a 3 point-play, I also heard "Get in mothafucka, Get in!" I mean, emotion is a part of the game, but his emotion causes doubt... Swearing, head down, bad body language, it wasn't nice to see from a young player with a high ceiling.

He had VERY shaky confidence under Coach Casey, it was really terrible to watch him play as if he made a mistake, he would be subbed right off.

Look at a guy like LeBron, EASILY the best basketball player in the world, but last year in the finals against Dallas. His mindset was to prove people wrong, as we've heard day in, and day out. He was playing angry, playing frustrated, playing with cockiness. Now, he changed. After all the criticism he faced, from what we saw in the playoffs, he turned into one of the most mature players in the game.

My point is, Demar has talent, and works extremely hard, but if he doesn't have the mental toughness the best players in the game have, he's not going to reach the potential that he most clearly has.

I think Demar is a nice kid but I'm surprised with everyone with all of the applause for his work rate. For someone who works so hard the 3 things he could have made significant improvements in he hasn't in. His strength, handle and 3 point shot are all easy to work on without game play. Rather then playing in pick up leagues maybe he could lift weights, work on his dribble and take thousands of jumpers a day to make the most of his offseason. 3 years in I'm a little disappointed with his progression to be honest and wouldn't rant about his work rate as it hasn't shown. Nice kid who gets too emotional on the court when he doesn't get calls but has along way to go. Hope he takes some steps forward this season as the wing position is still very weak on the team. Fingers crossed the US camp invite showed him how much work it took those guys ahead of him to be in the position to play on the real team.

I think Demar is a nice kid but I'm surprised with everyone with all of the applause for his work rate. For someone who works so hard the 3 things he could have made significant improvements in he hasn't in. His strength, handle and 3 point shot are all easy to work on without game play. Rather then playing in pick up leagues maybe he could lift weights, work on his dribble and take thousands of jumpers a day to make the most of his offseason. 3 years in I'm a little disappointed with his progression to be honest and wouldn't rant about his work rate as it hasn't shown. Nice kid who gets too emotional on the court when he doesn't get calls but has along way to go. Hope he takes some steps forward this season as the wing position is still very weak on the team. Fingers crossed the US camp invite showed him how much work it took those guys ahead of him to be in the position to play on the real team.

Hard work will show up. His coaches have said it, his boss has said it.

In my opinion, his hard work HAS shown up. First of all, his jump-shooting ability from year 1 to year 2. Significant improvement in the mid range game, and was better skilled. Than there are the excuses of the inability to use team facilities and such.

He's been said to be a gym rat, and so we are going by what has been publicly announced and so forth. I do agree that he should be working on the 3 needs of him, but results don't show up right away.

Hard work will show up... I do agree that he should be working on the 3 needs of him, but results don't show up right away.

Sometimes you need to put in a lot of work, and consistent practice, with very little to show for it...and then everything falls together. I suspect dribbling is like that. A lot of individual elements need to work very well before you can be said to have "handles." I would say that Demar's dribble has improved. In the scant video we have seen form summer play, it likes like he is better. With the serious work really starting now, under the watchful eye of the coaches, I wouldn't be surprised if he makes some significant gains.

I wish he had Steve Nash's work ethic. He would be where he should be.

Hard work will show up. His coaches have said it, his boss has said it.

In my opinion, his hard work HAS shown up. First of all, his jump-shooting ability from year 1 to year 2. Significant improvement in the mid range game, and was better skilled. Than there are the excuses of the inability to use team facilities and such.

He's been said to be a gym rat, and so we are going by what has been publicly announced and so forth. I do agree that he should be working on the 3 needs of him, but results don't show up right away.

Your right his mid range jumper has improved but really that's it to this point that has been noticeable. Do you remember how bad of a shooter Jose was his rookie year? He put in work two off seasons in a row on his shot and look how much he improved. Based on how raw Demar was coming out of school and his age it's only natural for him to improve gradually based on playing a t a higher level. If he has the gym rat as advertised there would have been much bigger improvements in his game. His jump from year one to two was considerable but that was more to do with the volume of shots and lack of talent on the roster rather then his development. A guy who is in the gym gets labelled a gym rat but it's what he's doing in the gym that matters not just showing up.

Your right his mid range jumper has improved but really that's it to this point that has been noticeable. Do you remember how bad of a shooter Jose was his rookie year? He put in work two off seasons in a row on his shot and look how much he improved. Based on how raw Demar was coming out of school and his age it's only natural for him to improve gradually based on playing a t a higher level. If he has the gym rat as advertised there would have been much bigger improvements in his game. His jump from year one to two was considerable but that was more to do with the volume of shots and lack of talent on the roster rather then his development. A guy who is in the gym gets labelled a gym rat but it's what he's doing in the gym that matters not just showing up.

Here's the differences, there is a lot that has to do with facility use, and coaching supervision.

Demar was in the lockout, playing a large number of games in the summer leagues. While he dominated those games, it wasn't working on his game.

- No facility use
- No coach connections
- No NBA summer league
- Short training camp

He WAS probably in the gym working hard on his game, just without coach guidance, which unfortunately can lead into parts of a player's game away from what they actually need.

It was proven last season, he added a 3-point shot. Now, his shot is still horrendous, but the FG% was better.
As he's now being guarded with pressure, Demar doesn't have that capable handle he seems to have now, nor the finishing ability in contact. That's why he wasn't as good last season. He didn't have the space or capable abilities to take a defender 'actually playing defense.'

The gym rat thing has been with him since USC, it's really nothing new.

In the Casey TSN interview Casey said that Demar's job this year was to "get to the rim" to either get the shot or draw the foul. He also said that Demar is stronger this year, so maybe we'll see more shots finished after contact. But Casey was explicit. The team now has more shooters, the floor should be spread a little bit, Demar is supposed to get to the rim.

In the Casey TSN interview Casey said that Demar's job this year was to "get to the rim" to either get the shot or draw the foul. He also said that Demar is stronger this year, so maybe we'll see more shots finished after contact. But Casey was explicit. The team now has more shooters, the floor should be spread a little bit, Demar is supposed to get to the rim.

That sounds good to me. I dont want demar taking those crazy fade-aways anymore, even though they are pretty and go in occasionally

Here's the differences, there is a lot that has to do with facility use, and coaching supervision.

Demar was in the lockout, playing a large number of games in the summer leagues. While he dominated those games, it wasn't working on his game.

- No facility use
- No coach connections
- No NBA summer league
- Short training camp

He WAS probably in the gym working hard on his game, just without coach guidance, which unfortunately can lead into parts of a player's game away from what they actually need.

It was proven last season, he added a 3-point shot. Now, his shot is still horrendous, but the FG% was better.
As he's now being guarded with pressure, Demar doesn't have that capable handle he seems to have now, nor the finishing ability in contact. That's why he wasn't as good last season. He didn't have the space or capable abilities to take a defender 'actually playing defense.'

The gym rat thing has been with him since USC, it's really nothing new.

Do you think that Jose had Sam Mitchell in Spain during his summers? The difference is Jose put up shot after shot while Demar was playing scrubs trying to make highlight plays.

Not having coaches guidance is a cop out of an excuse. If the guy paid some kid $15.00 an hour to fetch the ball while he worked on spot up 3's it would show. Repetition alone would make him better let alone if he had a shooting coach which he could easily have paid for based on his salary. Guys go to places like Impact all the time that has no affilation with the nba so lock out or no lock out he made a choice and not the right one. 24 made 3's in 63 game is nothing to write home about. To put it in perspective he shot 25% from 3 in his rookie year and 26% last year so where does the improvement lie other then the volume in attempts?

Your right he doesn't have a capable handle or the ability to finish through contact and his 3 point shot is horrendous. All I'm saying is if he spent more time in the gym he could improve his flaws as a player. The term gym rat is being thrown around way too loosely in my opinion.

Do you think that Jose had Sam Mitchell in Spain during his summers? The difference is Jose put up shot after shot while Demar was playing scrubs trying to make highlight plays.

Not having coaches guidance is a cop out of an excuse. If the guy paid some kid $15.00 an hour to fetch the ball while he worked on spot up 3's it would show. Repetition alone would make him better let alone if he had a shooting coach which he could easily have paid for based on his salary. Guys go to places like Impact all the time that has no affilation with the nba so lock out or no lock out he made a choice and not the right one. 24 made 3's in 63 game is nothing to write home about. To put it in perspective he shot 25% from 3 in his rookie year and 26% last year so where does the improvement lie other then the volume in attempts?

Your right he doesn't have a capable handle or the ability to finish through contact and his 3 point shot is horrendous. All I'm saying is if he spent more time in the gym he could improve his flaws as a player. The term gym rat is being thrown around way too loosely in my opinion.

I respect your opinion than.

I agree with your point on the highlighted. But, nowadays, it isn't so much the percentages players are worried about. It's about HAVING the capability to shoot from the outside. Derozan improved in his ability to make from the outside, from year 2 to year 3. The percentages aren't huge differences from the rookie season till his 3rd, but from watching Derozan play, stats don't lie, but neither do they tell the whole story.

At the end of the day, the team and their staff has put forward that Demar works hard, and is always in the gym. That's what I really feel a gym rat is, but was he necessarily working on the things he needs to work on? Who knows?
From his rookie season, till this past pre-season game, he's made some great strides in my opinion.

From no shot, no handle, basically, nothing to rely on offensively other than his athleticism, to having his name on the All-Star ballot, speaks something of Demar. Picking at individual things, can seem like a player is doing things wrong, but you can't take away he's a far better player now, from than when he was when he first came into the league.

He was raw, and you said in the past, that playing at a higher level should speed up the process being a 'gym-rat'? Actually, you need more time to let a player, (especially the situation of Demar) develop. Demar didn't have great basketball skill, in terms of shooting, dribbling, and now comes into a level of play, where the most skilled players are the most successful right away. Jose took two off-seasons to get a capable shooting ability overall, Demar took one off-season to be a good mid-range shooter, and another off-season to improve the range. If anything, I feel he's on the right track.

He didn't have an amazing past season, but the lockout hurt multiple young players similar to Demar's situation.

I agree with your point on the highlighted. But, nowadays, it isn't so much the percentages players are worried about. It's about HAVING the capability to shoot from the outside. Derozan improved in his ability to make from the outside, from year 2 to year 3. The percentages aren't huge differences from the rookie season till his 3rd, but from watching Derozan play, stats don't lie, but neither do they tell the whole story.

At the end of the day, the team and their staff has put forward that Demar works hard, and is always in the gym. That's what I really feel a gym rat is, but was he necessarily working on the things he needs to work on? Who knows?
From his rookie season, till this past pre-season game, he's made some great strides in my opinion.

From no shot, no handle, basically, nothing to rely on offensively other than his athleticism, to having his name on the All-Star ballot, speaks something of Demar. Picking at individual things, can seem like a player is doing things wrong, but you can't take away he's a far better player now, from than when he was when he first came into the league.

He was raw, and you said in the past, that playing at a higher level should speed up the process being a 'gym-rat'? Actually, you need more time to let a player, (especially the situation of Demar) develop. Demar didn't have great basketball skill, in terms of shooting, dribbling, and now comes into a level of play, where the most skilled players are the most successful right away. Jose took two off-seasons to get a capable shooting ability overall, Demar took one off-season to be a good mid-range shooter, and another off-season to improve the range. If anything, I feel he's on the right track.

He didn't have an amazing past season, but the lockout hurt multiple young players similar to Demar's situation.

I don't think there is no denying he's improved from his rookie season. Your right he was completely raw when they drafted him and he didn't have much of a jump shot or handle. Where I think we disagree is what is the reason for those improvements. You've ranted and raved about his work rate while I'm more on the side of it's been more natural based on the spoon fed minutes he's received and playing against quality competition.

Demar is big for a SG and has almost elite athleticism. Where he lacks as a player is basic basketball skills (shooting, passing, dribbling) and basketball IQ. I just have a tough time crediting someones work rate and labeling them a gym rat when the holes are still glaring in the same department after 3 years. Improvements have been made but based on his age and raw ability you would have to expect them naturally.

As for what the coaching staff and MLSE say about him do you expect anything less? It's not as if they are going to bash their own lottery picks and advertise their short comings as players/competitors because that would diminish their trade value. Being on the all-star ballot has more to do with the lack of roster talent on the Raptors then Demars actual value. If he was on the any of the better teams in the league would we still see his name on the ballot?

I like Demar and think he has the body and athleticism to be a very good player. Unfortunately I'm not sure when we'll see him get to that level as he doesn't seem to have the drive and work rate to get there. I'd like to see more of his attitude from his rookie year where he didn't whine about not getting calls and just got after it. This is a big year for him and with a solid campaign he'll be laughing his way to a big contract should be interesting to see how he's developed over the summer.

I don't think there is no denying he's improved from his rookie season. Your right he was completely raw when they drafted him and he didn't have much of a jump shot or handle. Where I think we disagree is what is the reason for those improvements. You've ranted and raved about his work rate while I'm more on the side of it's been more natural based on the spoon fed minutes he's received and playing against quality competition.

Demar is big for a SG and has almost elite athleticism. Where he lacks as a player is basic basketball skills (shooting, passing, dribbling) and basketball IQ. I just have a tough time crediting someones work rate and labeling them a gym rat when the holes are still glaring in the same department after 3 years. Improvements have been made but based on his age and raw ability you would have to expect them naturally.

As for what the coaching staff and MLSE say about him do you expect anything less? It's not as if they are going to bash their own lottery picks and advertise their short comings as players/competitors because that would diminish their trade value. Being on the all-star ballot has more to do with the lack of roster talent on the Raptors then Demars actual value. If he was on the any of the better teams in the league would we still see his name on the ballot?

I like Demar and think he has the body and athleticism to be a very good player. Unfortunately I'm not sure when we'll see him get to that level as he doesn't seem to have the drive and work rate to get there. I'd like to see more of his attitude from his rookie year where he didn't whine about not getting calls and just got after it. This is a big year for him and with a solid campaign he'll be laughing his way to a big contract should be interesting to see how he's developed over the summer.

I see what you're saying. Playing with better competition, and continuing to develop new habits should make him better, especially being so athletically gifted and young. BUT, I think, improvements don't come through just playing, but totally should help you no doubt. You don't just naturally improve basic skills, whether the basic skills are good or poor. I really do believe he has put in a good amount of time on the side on working on his basic skills. It has shown in many aspects, but there will always be players who have those 'glaring' holes in their game, especially because Demar is still a pinch raw. He was never coming into the league as a "scorer". We drafted him based on his potential, and I really believe he's working well towards the "all-star potential" everyone keeps talking about.

When I speak to the term, "gym-rat", from seeing these first two pre-season games, you can notice some serious improvements in Demar. He handles the ball with confidence and better than last season, significantly stronger, aggressive mindset, and defensively active in the open court/passing lanes. I don't think I can say Demar got significantly stronger naturally.... He was pretty damn small when he first came in the league.

What Should Make You Scared: DeRozan continuing to try to be The Man and failing, or succeeding enough to get Toronto to double-down on its bet on the wing. Come the end of this season, the Raptors will have to decide whether they want to lock up 2009 first-rounder DeRozan -- the starter at shooting guard the past two seasons, now moving to small forward due to a glaring need there and the presence of offseason imports Fields and 2012 lottery pick Terrence Ross -- with a long-term contract, or to extend him a one-year, $4.5 million qualifying offer that would make him a restricted free agent following the '13-'14 season. As such, a lot of eyeballs are going to be trained on DeMar's play this year, with the Raps reportedly wanting "to be wowed" by him before they'll put ink to paper. This could mean DeRozan looking to do (read: score) more, which could be a problem.

While DeRozan has been one of Toronto's two leading scorers in each of the past two seasons, as the share of team possessions he's used on offense has increased throughout his career, his field goal, True Shooting and Effective Field Goal percentages have all declined. So has his individual Offensive Rating -- after producing an average of 106.5 points per 100 possessions as a rookie, he dipped to 103.2-per-100 in Year 2 and 100.8-per-100 in Year 3, according to NBA.com's stat tool.

As defenders play off DeRozan to account for his athleticism and explosiveness off the dribble, he's tried to make them pay with the jumper, but he's just not good enough with it to use it as often as he does. Midrange Js and threes accounted for 59.4 percent of his field-goal attempts last year, but he shot just 36.3 percent on the former and 26.1 percent on the latter. (That deep mark, at least, was a significant bump from the 9.6 percent he managed in '10-'11.) The focus of his game has to be attacking the rim; considering his weak rebounding numbers, the fact that his assist and turnover rates are basically a wash, and that he doesn't create many turnovers in the way of blocks and steals, if DeRozan continues to just float outside without fixing his janky jumper, he might do more harm than good on the floor.

Strangely enough, Toronto's situation might be even worse if DeRozan does post a small improvement. After the Raptors drafted Ross eighth overall and gambled on a three-year offer sheet for Fields to checkmate the Knicks out of a potential sign-and-trade for top free agent target Steve Nash (which, as you know, backfired), they now finds themselves in a position of having already made two big investments in wings as another, more established player's contract comes up.

Say DeRozan does trend up this year, averaging something like 18 points per 36 minutes, nudging his shooting percentages up a bit (say, 45 percent from the field and near 30 percent from deep, while continuing to hit better than 80 percent at the line) and showing a bit more commitment on defense. Do Bryan Colangelo and Ed Stefanski then decide they have to keep him around, even if it costs them eight figures a year? Go for it and you could hamstring the franchise for years to come; turn away and you could miss the prime seasons of an electric athlete coming into his own. That's enough to give any exec trouble sleeping.

==

Personally, I'm hoping for more of the same from DeRozan. Even if he improves his shooting percentages I still don't see him as the defacto future SF for this team, and at SG we already have Fields (and Ross moving his way up through the system). This way we can extend him for the 1 year and say bye bye after that.